Buttercream-filled Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Truffles

Today marks the second week out of twelve for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats. And what else screams Christmas other than sinckerdoodles?
Besides chocolate chips cookies I’m pretty sure snickerdoodles are the favorite cookie to make during the holidays.

What I’m sharing today isn’t really the classic snickerdoodle, not at all! Today is all about vanilla buttercream-filled snickerdoodle cookie dough truffles! Yes it is a mouthful to say, but when has that ever stopped anyone from eating deliciously sweet goodies? It certainly doesn’t happen to me. In fact, the longer the title, the better, because it promises that much flavor.

 

 

When I saw these on Darla’s blog, I knew I had to make them. I mean just look at her photos and tell me you aren’t already drooling over the smooth snerckerdoodle balls cloaked in smooth chocolate.
I decided to go with a semi-sweet chocolate coating because white chocolate tends to make my stomach churn, and in all honesty I don’t even miss the white chocolate because these cookie dough truffles re so amazing! Every time I finished one I found myself going back for seconds, sometimes even grabbing two because I knew I would be back for thirds.

Many thanks goes to Brenda, author of Meal Planning Magic, for hosting such a wonderful event!   

 

 

Buttercream-filled Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Truffles
From Bakingdom
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chilled vanilla buttercream (or use full recipe below)
1 12oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in about 10 oz. of the sweetened condensed milk. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Gradually add in the flour and mix until combined. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add more sweetened condensed milk; if the mixture is too wet, mix in some more flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling, roll 1 tsp. sized pieces of buttercream into balls. Chill the buttercream balls.

Once the dough has chilled, use a medium-small cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Roll portioned out dough into balls. Flatten each ball and place one buttercream ball in the middle. Roll the dough around the buttercream. Chill for another 20-30 minutes.

Place a large heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water (or use a double boiler). Pour the chocolate chips into the bowl and wait for it to melt. Stir occasionally. Once the chocolate has completely melted remove from heat.

Use a toothpick or lollipop stick to dip each cookie dough ball into the chocolate. Tap the stick on the side of the ball to shake off the excess chocolate. Place onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Chill the chocolate-covered dough balls until the chocolate has hardened.

Vanilla Buttercream
from Bakingdom
makes enough for this particular project

Ingredients
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 tbsp. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until sooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the salt, heavy cream, and vanilla until completely incorporated.

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

It has been over a month since I last posted…. I would tell you why, but then you would just be reading about how school has taken over my life, which in all honesty it really has. I have been studying and working on homework and getting tutored almost every waking hour. I hardly have time for proper meals (Hello, Mr. P&J, same time same place tonight?)

I just don’t have time to think about baking anymore. I knew this was going to happen, which is why I made a whole bunch of goodies specifically for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats prior to school starting. I know I should make the actual blog a priority, but I just love Christmas so much!

Anyways, these are the bestest muffins for Christmas. I gave some to my sister’s boyfriend and the first thing he said when he bit into it was “This tastes like Christmas!”. So I think these muffins are perfect for the kickoff of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.

These sweet glazed doughnut muffins are perfectly seasoned with nutmeg and cinnamon, the two most perfect Christmas spices. And these muffins also taste great for several days (if they last that long). I personally loved eating my way from the bottom up, saving the sweet, crusty (terrible descriptive word, I know) glaze.

Also, look at those speckles in there! I love speckled things, just saying.

And many thanks to Brenda, writer of Meal Planning Magic, for hosting this year's 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats!

 

 

Glazed Doughnut Muffins
Slightly adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen
Makes 6 Muffins

Ingredients
Muffins
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp. canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
3/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk

Glaze
1 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp. hot water

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line 6 muffin cups with paper liners or grease tins with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat butter and oil with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add sugar and stir until smooth. Add the egg and beat until combined. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla until combined. Fold in the flour, alternating with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Stir until just combined (a few lumps is ok).

Evenly distribute the batter between the 6 prepared cups (I used my medium-small cookie scoop to portion out the batter and got 4 scoops to fit in each cup with minimal left over batter). Bake in the center rack for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling on a cooling rack to cool completely. Dip the tops of each muffin into the glaze once cooled.

To make the glaze: in a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and hot water. Whisk until smooth.

Note: the glaze starts to sink into the muffin the day after making them, but it doesn't alter their taste at all.

Cake Slice Bakers - August 2013: Maple Pecan Chiffon Cake

So much is happening today! For one, today is my parent's 20th anniversary of being married! Which I think is pretty dang awesome for today's day in age where everyone is getting divorced or separated left and right (or does that only seem to be celebrities?). Today also marks my best friend's 19th birthday! Happy birthday, Z! And I can't forget about the Cake Slice Baker's cake reveal of the month!

August's cake happens to be a chiffon cake. I have never made a chiffon cake or angle food cake, yet I have the pan, odd. I have had the pan for several years with the best intentions of baking with it, but I was just never inspired. So needless to say I was happy when my choice of the maple pecan chiffon cake won. That is until a certain incident happened....

You see this pan was stored in my closet because there was no room in the kitchen. You should also know I am deathly afraid of spiders. My dad says I need to see a psychiatrist. I say he needs to realize that spiders are plotting my death. 

Anyways, when I went to get the pan from my closet a spider decided it would be a great time to make it's presence known to me. I screamed and threw the pan at the wall and I'm pretty sure I had my very first heart attack. God, I despise spiders.

Anyways after about 30 minutes of scrubbing that pan clean I got to baking. I thought it was a little weird not to grease the pan, but I must follow those kind of directions. The cake baked up all nice, tall, and fluffy. It looked so beautiful; I was so proud of myself.

Getting the cake out was kind of tricky though because I didn't know how to get the cake out without manhandling it. I finally managed it with only a few finger indentations on the top. But nothing a little frosting can't fix.

Oh my gosh the frosting is so delicious! It's basically the same frosting from my rice krispie cake, but I wasn't as scared about browning the butter this time, so the frosting had this intense nutty flavor! So good. And the cake was so delicious! It had this perfect brown sugar taste. I did omit th pecans because no one in my family is a big fan of the nuts and I knew no one would eat it if it had nuts in it. But no matter, the entire thing was gone within three or four days. So I will most certainly be making this again!

Maple Chiffon Cake
Slightly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson
Makes 1 10 inch tube pan

Ingredients
2 cups minus 3 1/2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour*
4 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch*
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 egg yolks, room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
8 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 recipe Brown Butter Icing (below)

*or substitute 2 1/4 cups cake flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the bottom of a footed 10 cup tube pan. Leave the pan ungreased.

Sift together the flour and cornstarch 3 times. Whisk together the sifted cake, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the yolks, oil, maple syrup, water, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until smooth.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to high. Whisk until soft peaks form. turn the mixer speed down to low and gradually pour in the sugar. Turn the mixer back up to high and whip until firm, glossy peaks form.

Fold a third of the whites into the batter using as few strokes as possible. Fold in the rest of the whites until incorporated. Gently pour the batter into the lined (NOT GREASED) pan. Bake until the top springs back when gently touched and the top is a light golden brown, about 50 minutes.

Allow to the cake to cool upside down, so the cake is resting on its feet. If your pan does not have feet, use a wine bottle the support the chimney part of the cake. Once the cake has completely cooled, take a long, thin knife and run it along the edge of the pan. Gently knock to pan against a hard surface until it slide out. Top with the icing and serve. Note: when cutting, use a serrated knife and use a sawing motion so as not the crush the delicate cake.

Brown Butter Icing

Ingredients
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup whipping cream, cold
1/2 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Directions
Put the sugar in a medium bowl and set aside. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Keep heating until the butter turns from a lemony yellow to a dark golden brown. Once the butter has browned and has a nutty smell, add it to the sugar (do this while the butter is hot). Add the cream, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until smooth. As the butter cools the frosting will thicken. Once the frosting has thickened to the desired consistency, spread over the top of the cooled cake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

 

It's been a real long time since I've posted, whoops. Here is my legit excuse: I moved across the country. Yup, yup. I'm now living in South Carolina so I can be close to family and attend school and not have to worry about traveling. The only sucky part is leaving my friends. About 90% of my really good friends attend school in Colorado and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to go see them face to face again...

But the cool part about moving is I got to switch my Colorado driver's license over to a South Carolina one. I know this shouldn't matter, but the South Carolina license is soooo much prettier than Colorado's... oh and my picture is like a million times better too, haha.

 

So because I'm way late in posting stuff I thought I would give you all some sweet and simple chocolate chip cookies. I know I have about a million chocolate chip cookie recipes on here, but I still haven't found my perfect version yet, and until then I will keep searching! I've actually been looking into how different amounts of ingredients or lack of certain ingredients affects cookies and I have to say I like the look of adding bread flour into chocolate chip cookies as I don't really like adding cornstarch to my cookies. I feel those cookies turn out way too cake-like.

At first glance these cookies may seem like regular ol' cookies but they have a little something extra added to them: turbinado sugar. The turbinado gives a little bit of an extra crunch to the cookie because I don't think it melts the way granulated and brown sugar melt.

This particular cookie isn't as gooey as I would like, but it indeed soft and lovely when warm. I think I like the combination of milk and semi-sweet chocolate. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped up milk chocolate pieces. When chopping the chocolate, try not to chop it too small or you wont get the great chocolate puddley goodness that all chocolate chip cookies should have.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie
Slightly adapted rom The Quixotic Table
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. turbinado sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
45 g semi-sweet chocolate chips
45 g milk chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In the owl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and all three sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Turn the mixer speed down to low and gradually add the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Fold in the two types of chocolate chips.

Using a medium-small cookie scoop (mine is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter), scoop out the dough and space them about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake on the center rack for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown and the centers are still soft.

Cool pan on a cooling rack for a few minutes before removing the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy as many cookies as you please with a big ol' glass of milk.

Butterscotch Krispie Cake with Butterscotch Frosting

 

If you read the blog regularly or maybe semi-regularly you may remember I participate in a wonderful group called Cake Slice Bakers. I have been baking with this group for almost three years and it has been so wonderful!

Today the group turns 5 years old. I think that is pretty significant and so do the other ladies in the group which is why some of use decided to bake cakes as a celebration (check out our birthday cakes on our new Facebook page!).

I didn’t make a traditional birthday for the celebration though. I saw this rice krispie cake Darla had made for Dobby’s birthday and I became obsessed with it.

SIDE NOTE: Yesterday was Harry's, Neville's, and JK Rowling's birthday, so Happy Birthday to them and the group!

I’m slowly starting to fall in love with butterscotch. Last year I made some biscoff butterscotch cookies (they didn’t make it to the blog due to all the cookies being gone before I could take cookies) and they changed my entire perspective on butterscotch.

This “cake” has such a beautiful deep butterscotch flavor due to butterscotch chips strewn throughout and butterscotch sauce (like the kind from Smucker’s). But I also have to give credit to the brown butter frosting that get slathered between the krispie treat layers.

I haven’t worked with browning butter very much. I can count how many times I’ve browned butter on one hand. I don’t think I browned the butter enough for this frosting out of fear for burning it, but it still gave a wonderful caramely flavor.

My favorite part about biting into these was definitely the partially melted butterscotch chips. I think I have officially because a butterscotch lover!

Butterscotch Krispie Treat Cake with Butterscotch Frosting
Adapted from Bakingdom
Makes one 9x13 inch pan

Ingredients
Treats
6 cups rice krispie cereal
½ cup butterscotch chips
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
10 oz. mini marshmallows
¼ cup butterscotch sauce

Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, browned and solid
2 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp. butterscotch sauce

Directions
Line a 9x13 inch pan with tin foil. Grease foil with cooking spray.

Combine the cereal and butterscotch chips in a large bowl.  Combine marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Stir the marshmallows and butter until both are completely melted into each other. Once the marshmallows have melted pour in the butterscotch and stir until combined. The mixture may bubble a little. Pour the cereal into the melted marshmallow mixture and stir until the cereal is completely coated in melted marshmallows.

Press the hot mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Allow to cool completely.

While you wait for the rice krispie treat to cool, make the frosting. Beat the browned butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 30 seconds. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The mixture may look very dry and crumbly. Beat in the salt and the butterscotch sauce. If the frosting is still too dry add a little bit of milk or cream.

To assemble the “cake”: cut the rice krispie treat in half hamburger ways (if you are not an elementary school teacher this means you cut the cake so you have two 9x6 inch rectangles). Place one of the layers on a serving plate. Spread about 2/3 of the frosting on top of the bottom layer. Stack the remaining layer on top of the frosting. Use the remaining frosting to decorate the top of the cake.

Peanut Butter S'more Truffles

 

I know it’s hot out. I know none of you want to turn on the oven and make your 90 degree kitchen reach 100. This is why I’m giving you a nice cool treat. No it’s not ice cream (boy oh boy do I wish I had an ice cream maker!). Today I bring you Peanut Butter S’more Truffles.

I’m going to diverge a little here. Ever wonder why s’more are enjoyed during the summer? This thought just popped into my head like two seconds ago. But seriously, who wants to start a fire in the middle of July/August when it’s a bajillion degrees outside? Wouldn’t it be more practical to make s’mores during the winter? You know then you can snuggle up to the cozy fire during those cold winter nights and eat piping hot and melty deliciousness. It’s just something to think about.

So, back to truffles. These definitely have more of a peanut butter taste than and s’more taste, I won’t try to deceive you on that. But it really is a delicious combo, peanut butter, dark chocolate, and melted marshmallows.

 

Melted butter and marshmallows are swirled into the peanut butter dough giving a little bit of chew when you bite into the chilled truffle.

I’m pretty sure my dad ate the majority of these. Every time I looked over into the kitchen, there he was, popping another truffle into his mouth.

And in other news: my house has been sold. This means I have exactly 10 days (including the rest of today) left in Colorado. Things re already being stored into boxes and food items are being trashed. I have managed to convince my dad to keep all of my baking stuff, you know, just in case. This means I have to find ways to use up the chocolate chips, marshmallows, butter, flour and everything else I know won’t last. This should be fun!

 

Peanut Butter S’more Truffles
From Fabtastic Eats
Makes 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients
1 cup (256 g) creamy peanut butter
¾ cup (76 g) powdered sugar  
2 cups (90 g) mini marshmallows
2/3 cup crushed graham crackers (about 5 full sheets)
¾ cup (185 g) dark chocolate chips
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp. and divided
4-6 tbsp. milk

Directions
Line a large baking sheet with tin foil, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter with 2 tbsp. of butter. Mix until the butter has disappeared into the peanut butter. Stir in the powdered sugar. Do this gently as to now have the powdered sugar go all over the place. Fold in the crushed graham crackers.

In a sauce pan set over low heat, melt together the marshmallows and 2 tbsp. of butter. Once fully melted measure out about 1/3 cup. Keep the remaining melted marshmallow in the pan to reheat for later. Allow the 1/3 cup of marshmallow mixture to cool before folding gently into the peanut butter mixture.

Spray a medium-small cookie scoop with cooking spray. This will help release the dough easier. Scoop out portions and place them on the foil lined baking sheet. Freeze the balls while you make the chocolate coating.

In a double boiler or a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate chips with the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Stir in milk 1 tbsp. at a time until the chocolate reaches a good dipping or pouring consistency.

Roll or dip the chilled peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate. I just poured the chocolate over the dough balls because I found it too hard to roll them. Place the chocolate coated balls back on the foil-lined tray and freeze for about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, reheat the remaining marshmallow that’s in the pan. Drizzle some of the melted marshmallow mixture into every truffle for a final finish.

Cake Slice Bakers - July 2013: Boston Cream Pie-lets

Today the girls of The Cake Slice Bakers and I come at you with Boston Cream Pie-lets. In a way I’m glad I got another chance to make some Boston Cream Pie because last year’s cake didn’t go so well. This year’s cake did turn out much better, but yet gain I had trouble with the pudding. Gosh-darn pudding always seems to give me trouble!

Despite my pudding handicap, this cake turned out so much better than last year’s pie I think.

This cake uses so butter. In fact, the cake gets it height from whipped cream. And boy did this cake grow! I really didn’t expect the cake to grow so tall. And it’s so light on the tongue. Is that weird to say? Oh well. It really is a fabulous cake.

 

The pudding I’m assuming would taste oh so amazing if it had actually set up properly. The recipe calls for a vanilla bean, something I have never used ever! So that was actually pretty exciting. And even though my pudding didn’t set up, I still used it. I know I cooked it for long enough, it just didn’t want to set up. I put some of the vanilla sauce (that’s what I’m calling it) on the bottom of the glass and on top of the first layer of cake. The sauce absorbed into the cake and made for a wonderful texture. I don’t know how to describe the texture without it sounding gross. How about it feels like cold ice cream running through a thick slice of warm cake? Am I the only one that loves when that happens? Yes? No? Ok let’s move on.

The ganche that tops this cake has been used several times in our baking adventures for this book and as always I am very pleased with the results. I didn’t have any bar chocolate or normal sized chips on hand so I used 4 oz. of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips along with the cream and it still turned out fabulously!

All together this cake is pretty great. Not in my top favorites for this year, but definitely a contender. I think I would have liked the cake a little more if I poured the vanilla sauce over the top layer of cake too. And even though I am pudding challenged, my absolute favorite part was the vanilla pudding sauce just because of the vanilla beans. I can’t wait to use vanilla beans again!

 

Boston Cream Pie-lets
Slightly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup (minus 2 tbsp.) unbleached all-purpose flour*
2 tbsp. corn starch*
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup heavy cream, cold
½ cup + 2 tbsp. sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white (use yolk for pudding)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

*or you can use 1 cup cake flour

Pudding/Sauce
½ vanilla bean
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar, divided
4 egg yolks
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. corn starch
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

Ganache
½ cup heavy cream
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips

Directions
Line an 8x8 inch square cake pan with foil. Do not grease the foil. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

To make the cake: Sift together the flour and corn starch several times. This is to get the consistency of cake flour. Or alternatively you can just use 1 cup of cake flour. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment whisk the cold heavy cream on high speed until soft, droopy peaks form. Turn the speed down to medium-low and gradually pour in the sugar. Whip the mixture until stiff peaks form. Turn the speed down to low and add the egg and egg white followed by the vanilla. With the speed still on low whisk in the flour mixture into the whipped cream in three parts. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the ingredients have been incorporated evenly.

Pour the batter into the foil-lined pan. Bake on the center rack for 20-22 minutes or until the top is slightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack while you make the pudding.

To make the pudding: Slice the vanilla bean in half, length wise. Scape out the seeds from one half of the pod and place them, along with the pod, in the sauce pan. Add the milk and a few tablespoons of sugar to the sauce pan. Place the pan over medium heat and heat until the milk is hot. While the milk is heating, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining sugar. Stir in salt and corn starch. Stir 1/3 of the hot milk over the egg yolks. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat until mixture begins to thicken. Strain mixer over a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Whisk in the butter until melted.

To make the ganache: In a small sauce pan, bring cream to a simmer. Place the chopped chocolate or chips into a large, heat proof bowl. Add the hot cream to the bowl. Swirl the bowl to ensure even coverage of cream on the chocolate. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap for 5 minutes. Remove lid and whisk the chocolate from the middle and outwards. Start with small circles in the middle and move outwards until all the chocolate has melted.

To assemble: Cut 2 ½ inch circles in the cake. You will get four circles, so you can use the left over cake for another 2 servings. Cut each circle in half horizontally so you have 8 circles. Place a few tablespoons of pudding on the bottom of a glass, top with one cake circle. Dollop a few more tablespoons of hot  pudding on top of the cake and top the pudding with another cake round. Cover the top cake with the chocolate ganache. Cover the cakes with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.